The bluestone ground beneath Yoru's feet shattered instantly into countless fine particles, unable to withstand the extreme, sudden release of explosive force.
The moment the dark red Slayer Mark fully manifested, he seemed to break through the heavy shackles of his physical limits.
His speed, power, and reflexes—already terrifying—multiplied and surged yet again in a frenzy.
It was a leap in the very level of his existence.
An absolute suppression belonging to the closest domain of the gods a human body could ever touch.
"Thunder Breathing, Seventh Form: Honoikazuchi no Kami!"
Yoru's figure vanished abruptly from his position without any conventional starting stance.
No residual cursed energy was left in the air; even the fleeting crackle of thunder was left far behind by his supersonic movement.
Toji Fushiguro only felt a blur of red light as blinding as the sun flicker before his eyes.
The next second.
A dark red blade light, wrapped in violent gold arcs of electricity and swallowing all surrounding light, cut into his blind spot as if teleporting.
Fast!
This speed had completely surpassed the limits of the human brain's ability to process visual signals!
Even Toji, with the extreme physical gifts of his Heavenly Restriction, could not perform a single complete defensive move at this moment.
Before those god-like sword techniques, his physical functions appeared sluggish and pathetic.
*Clang—!!!*
A screeching friction of metal, loud enough to burst a normal person's eardrums, exploded in the air.
Toji barely managed to cross the Soul Splitter Katana before his chest, relying solely on the wild animal instincts honed through countless slaughters.
But immediately after, a terrifying force—like an entire mountain colliding head-on—poured through the blade and into his arms.
*Crack!*
It was the faint sound of bones fracturing under the unbearable weight.
Toji was sent flying like a baseball hit for a home run, dragging a violent gust of air as he smashed through a massive stone pillar supporting the center of the palace.
The pillar collapsed instantly under the impact, and the resulting dust obscured the entire battlefield.
"Cough... Pfft—!"
Toji struggled to push himself up from the rubble, coughing up a large mouthful of blood mixed with internal organ fragments. His eyes were filled with unprecedented shock and despair.
*That strike just now...*
If the Soul Splitter Katana hadn't been so remarkably durable, or if he hadn't honed a near-prophetic intuition from living on the edge of death...
His head would have been completely severed in that thousandth of a second.
"This speed... this monstrous strength... You, are you even human?!"
Toji roared like a cornered beast. His brain trembled as humiliation and fear at being toyed with like prey intertwined, driving him into a complete frenzy.
But he didn't even have a chance to steady himself.
Because Yoru's attacks never left a single moment of respite for the prey.
"Sun Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance!"
A murmur followed, cold and devoid of any warmth.
A massive fire dragon tens of meters long, condensed from dark red flames, spiraled out with a roar inside the Tombs of the Star Corridor.
Everywhere the dragon passed, the hard bluestone was instantly carbonized, and the oxygen in the air seemed sucked dry by the terrifying heat.
And through the gaps left by the weaving fire dragon...
"Moon Breathing, Fourteenth Form: Catastrophe - Tenman Sengetsu!"
Hundreds of slender, sharp, purple-glowing crescent blades surged from Yoru's body like a bursting tide.
The sun and moon shared the sky; fire and water merged!
Cold moon blades and scorching flames intertwined perfectly in mid-air, creating a terrifying tableau of divine beauty and ultimate lethality.
"Get the hell... away from me!!!"
Toji let out a hysterical roar, his sanity completely shattering amidst the falling red and purple light.
He violently swung the remaining length of the Chain of a Thousand Miles. The Inverted Spear of Heaven at its end whipped into a dense, silver afterimage, attempting to carve a path through the despair.
Simultaneously, he slapped Ushibao frantically, forcing the cursed spirit to vomit a dense cloud of Fly Heads, hoping to use those cheap lives as meat shields against the lethal sword qi.
However, before Yoru, who had activated his Slayer Mark and entered his full prime, these tactical maneuvers were pale and laughable.
"Your muscles are trembling slightly with fear."
Yoru's voice suddenly rang in Toji's ear.
It was incredibly soft yet clear, as if whispering right against his back.
"Your blood flow has become erratic due to cardiac overload."
"Your soul... is wailing beneath this blade."
Toji's pupils shrank to pinpricks, and every hair on his body stood on end.
He could clearly feel Yoru's eyes piercing through his skin, tearing open his muscles, and bypassing his bones.
They stared coldly at every hidden organ in his body from the perspective of a creator looking down at dust.
Transparent World, full power!
With the support of a 40% synchronization rate, Yoru's mastery of the Transparent World had entered a new dimension.
At this moment, the man known as the Sorcerer Killer had become an anatomical specimen so transparent he had no secrets left.
Every center of gravity.
Every breath in his lungs.
Every defensive blind spot.
Everything was highlighted in red, clearly presented on Yoru's retina.
*Slash—!*
The dark red fire dragon swept past.
The Chain of a Thousand Miles, supposedly indestructible, was instantly melted into scrap metal upon contact with Shiranui's soul-burning heat.
"Sun Breathing, Twelfth Form: Flame Dance!"
Just as Toji was dazed, Yoru appeared before him like a phantom.
Yoru's figure blurred, and Shiranui transformed into two overlapping arcs of flame, slashing across Toji's chest in a cross shape!
*Bang!*
The double heavy strike exploded with terrifying force, sending Toji flying backward.
Immediately after, the purple moon blades falling from the sky precisely carved through his defensive net.
As if possessing eyes, they eerily avoided the Soul Splitter Katana's block, leaving dense bloody gashes on his limbs, chest, abdomen, and back.
*Bang!*
Toji was slammed once again into the depths of the rubble by the overwhelming impact.
His body, his pride as the physical peak, was now covered in charred marks from the burns of Sun Breathing.
The properties of the solar fire were aggressively suppressing his body's self-healing, immersing every nerve in extreme agony.
"Is this... the 'violence' you're so proud of?"
Yoru walked out of the dust, carrying Shiranui, which had turned a deep crimson.
The dark red Slayer Mark on his face pulsed with a chilling, demonic light in the darkness.
Having awakened the Mark, Yoru seemed like the true Sorcerer Killer ruling the battlefield.
The pressure emanating from him distorted the space itself, making the entire Tombs of the Star Corridor groan under the weight.
"Too slow."
Yoru looked down at Toji, who was curled up in the rubble and covered in blood, his tone as cold as if he were evaluating a worthless defective product.
"In my eyes, all your struggles are no different from an insect wriggling on the ground."
This extreme humiliation from the depths of his soul caused Toji's heart—once as cold and rational as steel—to collapse and shatter.
He was Toji Fushiguro!
He was the King of Assassins who had single-handedly slaughtered his way through the Zenin family and ground Satoru Gojo into the dirt!
But now, he was like a mouse being toyed with by a cat, unable to land a single effective counterattack.
"Heh... Hahahaha!"
Toji suddenly laughed, a low sound filled with self-mockery and desperate madness.
He sprang from the ruins, reaching once more into Ushibao's deep throat.
"It's not over... I haven't lost yet!!!"
However, just as he prepared to reveal the final trump card that could change the battle...
A dark red afterimage arrived in a flash.
Yoru's Shiranui, wrapped in scarlet flames, crossed the distance and locked onto the blind spot of Toji's throat with suffocating speed.
In that moment, the icy breath of death froze all of Toji's movements.
His heart skipped a beat due to extreme terror.
Despair arrived as scheduled.
It was the ultimate fate for a man like him.
But the red glow in Yoru's eyes only grew deeper at that moment.
"The next strike will send you on your way."